


Vivace

by joyseul



Series: Fascinating Rhythm [2]
Category: NCT (Band), NCT Dream
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Jaemin is actually bi here, M/M, Na Jaemin is a Confident Gay, Shy Lee Jeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:21:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25030849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyseul/pseuds/joyseul
Summary: Jaemin is on the quest to find a new "love of my life", only for him to be a shy guy who's the best friend of his enemy.
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: Fascinating Rhythm [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812682
Kudos: 44





	Vivace

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted and edited because I wanted to make this a series but ended up making chapters instead because I'm dumb.. Sorry! Delving into Jaemin and Jeno's story for this one.. Will I be motivated enough to tell the end of Chenji's story? Only time will tell. Thank you for reading as always! Let me know what you think

Jaemin spots Chenle scanning the vending machine, seemingly considering which sugary drinks he is gonna buy. He approaches Chenle sneakily as to not make his presence known by the boy. Once he’s close enough, he whispers in Chenle’s ears in the most “seductive” way, using his hoarse I-just-woke-up voice that Chenle loves to hate.

“Hey, loverboy.” Jaemin immediately regrets surprising Chenle because he is attacked by Chenle’s signature dolphin scream right away. When Chenle looks back, he spots the mischievous smile on Jaemin’s face and scrunches his face. He observes Jaemin from head to toe, suspicious as to what shenanigans Jaemin will bring upon him today.

“Don’t be fucking gross.” 

“Not any grosser than you still hiding your feelings for Jisung behind that no relationship bullshit.” 

As a reply for that comment, Chenle’s foot gives Jaemin’s toe a little love tap. Jaemin winces, but he smirks anyway because that’s a sign that he is correct. It’s been a couple of weeks into the new school year but Chenle and Jisung have not gone further than being best friends. It frustrates Jaemin more than his own nonexistent love life after he broke up with Mark last year. 

But today, Jaemin has decided enough is enough. He is ready to hunt for a new “love of my life”, as he calls it.

“What do you want?” Chenle looks away, clearly trying to hide the pink spreading on his cheeks. Jaemin grins and puts his arm around Chenle’s shoulder, acting way too sweet to not have any hidden motives.

“When does your friendly basketball game start today? I want to cheer for you.” Jaemin thinks he’s a decent liar. His mom believed him when he said he stopped drinking coffee yesterday on the phone, so he’s confident he won’t get caught in this one.

Unfortunately, Chenle sees through his bullshit —he always does. He pushes Jaemin away and folds his arms. “What is it?” He pesters him for the real reason.

Jaemin puffs his cheeks and mirrors Chenle’s pose. “Fine. I heard some girls saying today there will be lots of hot boys in the court.” He shrugs and gives Chenle a look, implying that he should have understood what that entails. Chenle does, but the thought of Jaemin in the bench watching him play doesn’t make him feel at ease. He just knows Jaemin would be embarrassing him one way or another.

“Why do you suddenly want to watch a basketball game anyway? You never even watched one when Mark was here.”

“How dare you.. I did when you weren’t a student here yet. He said I was distracting him with my pretty face.” He brags. It’s obvious that Mark made it up because he’s too annoying to reason with. _Ugh_. He can’t avoid this from happening, can he? If Chenle doesn’t tell him, he probably will just go ask Renjun to ask Felix anyway. He might as well just rip the bandaid off instead of prolonging this pain.

“Starts at 5pm. Do not embarrass me, okay?” He goes back to the vending machine and gets an aloe vera drink before he feels Jaemin hug him from behind.

“You’re the best! See you!” Jaemin kisses Chenle on the cheek and screams “I love you!” before he sprints as far away from Chenle, ignoring the strings of school appropriate curse words from the younger boy.

Renjun is already busy with his college application, resulting in him not readily available to participate in Jaemin’s nonsense shenanigans as much as he was before. In Renjun’s defense, Jaemin should start on college application as well. However, Jaemin refuses to be a nerd, a term of endearment he’s been calling Renjun for the last two weeks.

He then finds himself a new target and stops Yangyang from going home after school, dragging his unwilling classmate by his sleeve to accompany him. Spending the afternoon looking at hot people from another school won’t hurt anyone.

“Jaemin, I have a boyfriend.” Yangyang whines, seemingly not a hundred percent into Jaemin’s idea.

Jaemin gives him an eyeroll. “And? Dejun is a university student. He’s probably enjoying a straight experience right now, getting girls flocking around him as we speak. Enjoy high school a little bit, will you?” Yangyang glares at Jaemin. He’s sure his boyfriend is loyal. But Jaemin’s right. As far as he knows, drooling over hot boys as a pastime is not a sin.

As soon as they arrive at the court, Yangyang gasps and stops him in his tracks, his hand on Jaemin’s shoulder. “Don’t be dramatic, but.. Donghyuck is here.” 

Immediately, Jaemin yells. The other school playing against his school turns out to be the school of Renjun’s ex boyfriend. Considering the bad blood between Jaemin and him, Jaemin might as well be the one who had a relationship and broke up with him. It’s typical; Jaemin is _that_ kind of protective friend. Jaemin’s friends’ relationships are as much theirs as they are his. Their exes become his enemies. Even Felix is getting a taste of that in the morning at the cafe nearby when Jaemin cut him on the line and snatched the last macarons. He doesn’t even care if the one who broke up with the _evil_ exes are his friends.

When they finally find good seats, the game has already been going on for a while and their school is leading. That gives Jaemin a huge relief, knowing his school won’t be beaten by Donghyuck’s. He cheers loudly for Chenle, getting a few embarrassed and angry stares from the boy, but he keeps on going just so Donghyuck acknowledges his presence. He wants Donghyuck to know that he’s watching him losing. Donghyuck notices him not long after the incessant screamings, and sends a silent _‘fuck you’_ his way.

All of a sudden, a player from the opposing school starts to score some points. Their gap is still big but who knows with basketball, it can turn around in minutes. The guy starts making three points shots like a breeze. Did he just fly? Jaemin is impressed, but he’s also not going to let his school lose in front of Donghyuck.

“Chenle stupid!!! Don’t lose, you big head!!!!” He screams and his voice cracks a few times, but he doesn’t care. Embarrassing himself for comedy purposes is rather his brand. Chenle doesn’t even look at him. Mark was right to ban him from the court. 

At the sound of his voice cracking, the dark horse of Donghyuck’s school can’t help but laugh and Jaemin’s heart flutters a little bit. The boy is really cute. And when he starts scoring points again, he becomes extremely hot. Is he the love of his life? He nudges Yangyang who’s currently livestreaming the whole thing.

“Hey, do you know who number 23 is?” Jaemin whispers curiously.

Yangyang looks at him weird, his brows furrowed. “Do you have brain damage? That’s Kuanlin. You dated him for like, a week, remember?”

Jaemin punches his side playfully, well, half-playfully. “Not from our school, stupid. From Donghyuck’s school.” He gestures to the black-haired boy sneakily, hoping for him not to notice his obvious interest. 

Yangyang observes the guy’s jersey, squinting hard to see the name on his jersey but it just says _LEE_. He tries to think if he’s seen him anywhere, but he can’t seem to remember. Fortunately, he’s got a better idea. “Hey, everyone! If you know who this player number 23 is,” he zooms into the boy’s face celebrating his next 3 points, “please tell me his name! Jaemin has a crush on him.” He asks his ten thousand followers. Jaemin is fucked.

Before Jaemin can shower Yangyang with curses, though, the comment box is already spammed with the same name. Apparently Yangyang’s followers know who this guy is. Maybe Yangyang is a genius and Jaemin should forgive him for shaming him in front of thousands of people. “Lee Jeno..” Jaemin mumbles. Pretty boy, pretty name.

The game ends with Donghyuck’s school winning and Jaemin high-pitched yelling “CHENLE STUPIDD” echoing in the indoor basketball court. 

Before Jaemin can leave the court, Donghyuck is already blocking him, a playful smirk on his face, hands on his hips. “Get out of my face.” Jaemin shushes him, trying to get as far away from Donghyuck. From his pheriperal vision, he finds Chenle talking to the love of his life. “Bye.” He leaves Donghyuck and power walks to Chenle. Yangyang and Donghyuck exchange hellos before following Jaemin’s hurried footsteps.

“Won’t you introduce me to your friend?” Jaemin suddenly appeared behind Chenle, his head resting on Chenle’s shoulder. His eyes are looking at Jeno intently, getting the boy to look down on his feet while his hands play with his jersey. _Oh, he’s shy?_

Surprised at the sudden contact, Chenle elbowed his stomach in reflex. Jaemin yells “OW” repeatedly, making everyone in their proximity laugh. Perfect. He’s already a clown even before he gets to charm this guy. Chenle will pay for this.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on me. Ever.” Chenle scolds him, not a drop of regret from hitting his friend. To everyone’s surprise, Jeno clears his throat, seemingly want Chenle to introduce them. Chenle and Jaemin look at him in unison. “Jeno, this is Jaemin, my neighbor and the worst person you’ll ever meet. Jaemin, this is Jeno-”

Before Chenle can finish, Donghyuck appears next to Jeno and says, “my best friend.” 

If an eye roll has a sound, everyone would hear it because Jaemin just did a big, dramatic one. “Oh yeah? It’s so touching to see a human having a troll as a friend. It’s rare nowadays.” That gets a chuckle out of Jeno. _Jaemin 1, Donghyuck 0_. “Nice to meet you, Jeno.” He uses that momentum to hold out his hand, in which Jeno reciprocates immediately. Nice grip, unexpectedly soft hand. He takes a moment to stare at Jeno’s eyes, his smile, the mole under his right eye. Can a person be this pretty? 

The moment passes when Donghyuck yanks Jeno’s arm and links it with his. “Unfortunately, we have to go. Bye Jaemin. Say hi to Renjun for me?” The last part sounds sincere, but Jaemin won’t acknowledge it.

He snucks out his tongue at Donghyuck, then waves at Jeno. When he turns his back to look at Chenle and Yangyang, his eyes big and sparkly with excitement, they already know Jeno is going to be the only thing Jaemin will talk about for the next few days.

*

It’s been a few days since Jaemin saw Jeno for the first time and Chenle just won’t give him his number out of respect for Jeno’s privacy. Renjun seems unwilling to ask Donghyuck to get Jeno’s number, and Jaemin doesn’t want his friend to talk to his ex anyway. Jeno doesn’t have social media either. He’s tried stalking Donghyuck’s instagram and it was hard for him, having to look at endless pics of Donghyuck selca. There are still pictures of Renjun, too, which makes Jaemin want to vomit.

He’s frustrated and he needs some fresh air, so he takes his bike that night to go on a night ride. Maybe he will take some pictures along the way, that will bring up his mood. He loves exploring alone, anyway.

After getting a healthy amount of phytoncides and taking landscape pictures by the river, he goes to the nearest convenience store to have a noodle break. He makes a beeline to the instant noodle section, finds his favorite brand, pays, and goes straight to the hot water dispensers.

Not long after he finds a working dispenser, another customer wearing a biking helmet approaches the machine he just tried and struggled with it. “That one doesn’t work. You can use this one here.” He tells the stranger politely, gesturing to him to come closer and use the one next to him. The stranger replies with a quiet thanks and stands next to him.

Somehow, Jaemin feels like he’s being stared at by the guy beside him. So he braves himself to look at him, trying to find out if he has something to say, or if there’s something wrong with him. Did he wear his pants inside out? Or is he just a regular creep? When he makes eye contact with him, they both gasp. “Jaemin?” 

He would be lying if his heart doesn’t skip a beat when Jeno says his name. Even his voice is pretty. “Oh, Jeno. Hi.” He replies sweetly, adding a wink as an afterthought. Jeno’s cheeks immediately turn rosy and Jaemin wishes he could pinch them. _Jeno is really shy, huh?_ “Didn’t expect to see you here. Mind if we eat together?” Jaemin swiftly takes a cardboard tray and places his and Jeno’s noodle on it before Jeno even gets the chance to answer. Jeno nods and follows Jaemin to the table outside. 

They sit across each other in silence at first. Jeno looks awkward, seems like he doesn’t know what to say. Jaemin is on his phone texting with the speed and intensity that Jeno has never seen before. It's clear that Jaemin is texting his friends and he doesn't even hide it. He can’t help but smile at the sight. 

Once Jaemin is off his phone, his attention is fully back on Jeno’s face. Jeno immediately finds his noodle interesting and fixates on that, avoiding Jaemin's gaze. Jaemin considers teasing him for being shy, but he decides to give Jeno a break. He already looks nervous, his shoulders look tense. “Do you usually bike at night?” He starts with a small talk. 

That gets Jeno relaxed a bit. “Yes. At least once a week?” Jeno answers excitedly. He makes an effort to look at Jaemin’s eyes, although he immediately looks away. He must love biking a lot, Jaemin thinks. “How about you? Is this your usual route?” Jeno braves himself to continue the conversation. His voice is small but Jaemin finds it endearing.

“Yeah. I usually go here before going back home. I live nearby. Just a few blocks near Leeum museum. The ride home-”

“The ride home is hard.” Jeno interrupts him and finishes his sentence. Jaemin looks at him curiously. Jeno smiles sheepishly. He scratches his neck for no reason. _Cute_. “I live a few blocks from there too. Uphill is always hard.”

“Yeah. I guess we’ll have to go home together after this.” Jaemin winks, again. But this time, Jeno laughs. He looks at Jaemin like he’s insane. Maybe he's not entirely wrong.

He nods, eventually. “Of course. Maybe uphill will be less hard when it’s with you.” He says it as he continues eating his noodle. At this point everything Jeno says sounds genuine to Jaemin, so he’s kinda stunned hearing Jeno saying that. Is that his attempt at flirting back? Jeno takes notice of that and quickly backtracks. “Uhh, I’m just joking? Haha.” 

Jeno correcting himself makes him even cuter to Jaemin. His face slowly approaches Jeno’s and he can’t hold himself back from pinching Jeno’s cheek. “You’re cute.” Jeno turns red, he doesn’t know how to react to _that._ “Why do you have to be friends with Donghyuck?” Jaemin says jokingly, but also, kinda not? He takes his camera from his bag and plays around with the setting. “Can I take a picture of you?” He asks, bluntly, leaving Jeno no room to take a breather.

Upon the sight of the camera, Jeno tries to calm down and change the topic. “You bring that heavy camera while biking?” He asks, intrigued. 

Jaemin does some camera tests on his neglected food. “Yeah. I like to make stops to take some pictures of the scenery, flowers, stray cats..” He pauses, then looks at Jeno. “Cute people.” He throws a mischievous smile at Jeno, and Jeno pouts.

“You have to stop doing that. I am not built for that.” He pleads weakly. There is nothing else in Jaemin’s head except for _cute cute cute._ “Your food is cold.” Jeno mentions the obvious.

He finally puts down the camera and reaches for his chopsticks. “Okay, I’ll stop, but only if I can take pictures of you as soon as I’m done. I won’t take no for an answer.” He pretends to not look at Jeno but from the corner of his eye, he can see that Jeno is smiling. “Oh!” He suddenly remembers the reason he’s even biking in the first place. “Also, give me your number.”

*

“Um, traitor?” Jaemin hisses as he finds Renjun in Chenle’s restaurant, eating jjampong with Chenle, Renjun’s ex, and the love of his life. Renjun hasn’t even hung out with him for what feels like an eternity (it’s been a few days) and he’s now here with his mortal enemy. This is blasphemy.

“I’m not here.” Renjun replies, continuing to eat his noodle in peace. Renjun looks unbothered, as he always does, but Jaemin sees through it. There’s the faintest of pink in his cheeks, Jaemin guesses it’s from the fact that he’s eating with his fucking ex and their knees are probably touching right now. Gross, Jaemin thinks.

Chenle looks at him with his usual judgmental eyes. “Are you just here to get free food again?” Jaemin’s brain still hasn’t worked out why this group of four is eating together and why everything leads to Chenle. But he is suddenly reminded by why he came there in the first place.

“Oh. Jisung is not feeling well. He’s craving your mom’s dumplings, so here I am.” He waves his queue number in front of Chenle’s face.

Worry is painted all over Chenle’s face. _Jisung is sick?_ He quickly grabs the queue number from Jaemin’s hand and rises from his seat. “Let me get this for him. He probably wants some soup too. And vegetables. God, everyday I tell him to eat his greens.” He rushes to the kitchen, mumbling to himself, and Jaemin sees an empty seat right in front of _the fucking love of his life_.

Jeno looks up from his bowl and gives him a smile. “Hi, again.” His eyes turn into crescents. If Renjun doesn’t secretly step on his foot, he would probably have purred out loud. Renjun can see his best friend’s eyes turning into hearts and that’s just embarrassing. Definitely more embarrassing than him getting flushed whenever his eyes meet with Donghyuck’s.

“Hi, Jeno.” Jaemin tries his best to sound calm, but it’s clear that he is smitten. “Hyuck.” He acknowledges Donghyuck. His tone is a complete 180 compared to the one he used for Jeno. Donghyuck throws a disgusted face his way. At least the feeling is mutual.

“Soo.. why are you guys eating together on this lovely afternoon? Thanks for the invite, by the way..” Jaemin looks at Renjun who still wouldn’t look at him, then he pretends to cry with his disgusting baby voice. Renjun punches his side and he grimaces. He exaggerates, of course.

His antics incite a laugh from Jeno, so his heart does a little victory dance. Jeno’s laugh sounds so melodic, music to his ears. “No, no. Renjun was already here when Hyuck and I came. I was just craving some Chinese food.” He explains, cutely gesturing with his hands.

“So, you and Renjun actually know each other?” Jaemin responds, he looks back and forth from Jeno to Renjun. “How come Renjun never told me. Everyday I tell him to set me up with a cute boy.” Jaemin casually flirts in front of everyone. Donghyuck takes a sip of his iced tea loudly and Renjun snorts.

But Jeno is clearly not ready for the storm that is Na Jaemin. He’s been the recipient of his flirting the past week but it never fails to catch him off guard. He tries to ignore Jaemin's blatant flirting and answers his question, but he ends up stuttering. “Oh. Uhm. I only know Renjun because he used to date Hyu-“

Before Jeno finishes, Renjun stands up from his seat. “I’m done. I’m going home.” He drags Jaemin by the hood of his hoodie. “You’re my ride.”

Jaemin protests, reasoning with how he’s still waiting for his order and that Jisung is waiting at home, and that Renjun’s place is at the other side of the town. Donghyuck sees an opportunity and stands up. “Let me take you home. I mean, I’m gonna pass your place on my way home anyway.” He looks at Jaemin, eyes hopeful, asking for Jaemin to cooperate this one time. “Jaemin, can you be Jeno’s ride? He has nowhere to go so he can keep you company while you wait for your order.”

Ignoring the fact that he’s a bad friend for letting Renjun go home with his ex that he hasn’t moved on from and that Renjun will definitely murder him in his sleep later, Jaemin squeaks out a _‘YES’_ excitedly. Renjun is left speechless, and he has no energy to argue against Jaemin and Donghyuck’s scheme —he kinda misses it too if he’s being honest with himself, they were such a compatible evil pair until Renjun broke it off with Hyuck— so he sighs and follows Donghyuck unwillingly.

The opportunity for Jaemin to terrorize Jeno with his flirting skills has opened again. However, before Jaemin can say anything, Chenle appears from the kitchen with plastic bags in both of his hands, clearly way more than what Jaemin ordered and paid earlier. “Let’s go. Jisung must be waiting.” He commands at Jaemin, then looks at the empty seats. “Where are Renjun and Donghyuck?” He asks Jeno, his face confused and distracted.

“Renjun wanted to go home so Donghyuck offered to give him a ride. And Jaemin’s my ride now, apparently?” Jeno answers, like fish out of the water, unable to quickly adapt to the sudden chaos that is forced upon him.

“Perfect. Let’s go.” Chenle walks ahead of them, utterly ignoring Jeno’s confusion and Jaemin’s huge grin. “Na Jaemin! Hurry the fuck up.” He yells from the restaurant’s door. Jaemin and Jeno quickly rush behind Chenle. Jaemin mouths _‘whipped’_ at Jeno, letting him know that Chenle might be in love with his brother. Jeno just nods and smiles, trying to be polite although nothing makes sense for him right now.

Unexpectedly, although Jeno can’t really expect anything at the moment, Jaemin drives like a mad man. Chenle isn’t even complaining because he needs to deliver the food to Jisung while it’s still hot. That’s his number one priority. “So Jeno, how’s your day?” Jaemin looks at Jeno in the passenger seat, casually making chit chat like he’s not about to get a speeding ticket. Jaemin wants to ask why he hasn’t texted him yet, but he decides against it. After all, he hasn’t texted Jeno as well. He thinks it’s only right to let Jeno be comfortable enough to text him after all the one sided flirting he’s done without considering Jeno’s feelings. In a way, he’s a gentleman —and in more other ways, he’s not.

“Um, I think it’s best if you just focus on the road right now.” Jaemin notices that Jeno’s hands are clutching the seat belt. He’s fearing for his life. _Cute._

Chenle tells him to go faster. Jeno shrieks.

Jaemin’s hand finds its way to Jeno’s thigh. “Hey, it’s okay. If it makes you feel better, I’ve never had an accident. That’s how good at driving I am.” He rubs his hand on Jeno’s thigh, hoping it can soothe the boy’s very rational fear. Jeno grabs his hand and puts it back on the steering wheel, eyes about to jump out of the sockets. Jaemin pouts because: a. His hand is not on Jeno’s thigh; b. Jeno’s crescent eyes are gone when he’s terrified.

They arrive not too long after —all thanks to Jaemin’s driving skills— and Chenle hops off the car as soon as they arrive, not waiting for Jaemin and Jeno to do or say anything.

“Are you okay?” Jaemin feels just a little bit bad, looking at the state Jeno is in right now; hair disheveled, body slouched in the passenger seat, cold sweat flowing from his forehead.

Jeno lets out a long sigh, like he’s been holding his breath the whole time he was in the car —in his defense, that’s exactly what he did. Jaemin lets out a little chuckle. “I’m… fine. I’ll just walk from here. Thanks for the... uh, ride.” Jeno answers soullessly.

“Sorry, I really scared you with my driving, didn’t I?” Jaemin’s hand touches Jeno’s cheek, trying to console the boy. But Jeno is quick to open the car door. It stings a little bit, but Jaemin thinks he probably deserves it. “You don’t wanna stay for tea? Coffee?” He offers, desperately trying to spend more time with Jeno.

“I think I need to lie down for 10 whole hours.” He answers sheepishly, his hand rubs the back of his own head. “Maybe next time.” He smiles, giving Jaemin a genuine smile although there’s an absence of blood in his face. Jaemin doesn’t get a word in and the door closes.

Jaemin curses.

At least he promises there’s next time.

A notification pops up on his phone. It’s a text from Chenle.

`**Loudmouth Bighead** `

` **Hello??? Clown???? Jisung is asking for cold medicine and I don’t know where it’s stored  
If ur making out with Jeno rn I swear I’m gonna kill u ur brother is SICK** `

Oh shit. Jaemin completely forgets about his brother. Another ding.

`**Jeno** `

` **Hey, sorry for rushing home. Thanks again for the ride (thumbs up emoji)** `

A thumbs up emoji, is Jeno an old man? He replies with _‘No problem!’_ , followed by an unlimited amount of heart emojis, before he sprints into his house. He’s not letting Chenle kill him on the same day Jeno sends him his first text.


End file.
